ALL THINGS DENOTE THERE IS A GODGospel Doctrine Book of Mormon Lesson 27

INTRODUCTION➤ Anti-Christ, Korihor

➤ Greek definition of ‘anti’

➤ Instead of

➤ Face-to-face, mirror image

➤ Bible Dictionary: Anti-Christ is anyone or anything that counterfeits the true gospel plan of salvation and that openly or secretly is a set up in opposition to Christ.

➤ ATOT: Doing Gospel Doctrine research online

➤ My computer’s filter for corrupt fonts and downloads. I wish it offered the same warnings for ‘counterfeit’ doctrine.

➤ Our best defense is to learn from the Book of Mormon and watch for similar arguments/tactics.

KORIHOR LEADS AWAY THE HEARTS OF MANY IN ZARAHEMLA➤ After the big wars with the Lamanites, the people of Ammon (anti-nephi-lehites) live peaceful for

two years

➤ Alma 30:6-7, An outsider, Korihor, comes to town to lead peaceful people astray

➤ Why did he do it? We need to fast-forward to the end. Spoiler-alert, he’s a fraud

➤ 30:53, He had a testimony and abandoned it. Why?

➤ I taught [these things] because they were pleasing to the carnal mind.

➤ I had much success . . .(people followed him)

➤ Because of my success, I verily believed that they were true . . .

➤ For this cause I withstood the truth . . .

➤ ATOT: My boss’s fad diets. She knew that only exercise and good diet will actually yield long-term results. She tried crazy things. When they were successful she would preach them to others. When others followed she believed them even more.

➤ Can we relate to Korihor’s slide?

➤ He likely didn’t start as an Anti-Christ

➤ He was a believer with doubts first, then he served the wrong master

KORIHOR’S TACTICS (SATAN’S STRATEGIES TO WEAKEN FAITH)

➤ Korihor’s arguments in Zarahemla (all revolve around pleasing the carnal mind)

➤ 30:12, No Christ will come (scriptures are fake)

➤ 30:13, Faith yokes you, gives you false hope (commandments constrain).

➤ No man can know of things to come (no gift of prophesy)

➤ This obviously contradicts his first argument that he knows Christ will not come

➤ 30:16, No remission of sins (frenzied mind, why does this sting us?)

➤ 30:17, No judgement, everyman creates his own success

➤ 30:18, No shame in sin (why is this so appealing?), no resurrection

KORIHOR TEACHES IN JERSHON

➤ He pulls many away in Zarahemla (Nephites). Why does he leave? Why couldn’t he stay and build up a following?

➤ He’s selling snake oil. Successful frauds never stick around to see the results. He knows it won't lead to happiness.

➤ How do the Anti-Nephi-Lehites in Jershon handle him?

➤ 30:20-21, They bind him up and take him to court. Ammon kicks him out (his beliefs aren’t the problem, it’s his divisive preaching)

➤ ATOT: Nay sayers on temple square. I rush my kids past them. Do I do the same with family/friends who teach incorrect principles?

KORIHOR TEACHES IN GIDEON

➤ He gets the same treatment in Gideon.

➤ The high priest (Giddonah)gets an earful.

➤ 30:23-27, have class summarize some of Korihor’s claims

➤ 30:28, traditions, whims, dreams, visions, pretend mysteries … why does he use these words?

➤ What’s his goal? To please the carnal mind

➤ 30:29, How does the high priest handle it?

➤ ’They would not make a reply’. I bet that was tough

➤ Sometimes it’s better to walk away

➤ He’s taken back to Zarahemla to see Alma (the Chief Judge)

KORIHOR IS TAKEN TO ALMA, THE CHIEF JUDGE

➤ 30:31, What does ‘glut’ imply? Not just gain but selfish, wasteful gain.

➤ 30:34-35, Alma’s response

➤ Fast forward again: Alma 30:42, What does Alma know about Korihor? Why does he bother with this battle?

➤ He probably sees a little of his younger self in Korihor (its never too late)

➤ He’s not just answering Korihor, he’s teaching the shaken testimonies around him (like Ammon did).

➤ He’s reminding them that the gospel brings joy

➤ 30:37-39, Alma testifies of what he knows. This is a court, he is a witness for the gospel.

➤ Many had heard his testimony by then (in their own homes). Maybe he’s reminding them of his personal witness.

ALMA ASKS QUESTIONS

➤ 30:40-41, Alma shifts the burden of proof. Why is this fair?

➤ Korihor has no proof of what he ‘knows’, he is acting on ‘faith’ in his own belief

➤ Korihor’s paradox: For Korihor to ‘know’ there is no God he would have to see all the universe simultaneously. To do that, he would need to be a God.

➤ ATOT: My kids tattling on each other about open eyes in the prayer

“It [The story of Korihor] teaches a great lesson for our day. No matter how clever, how sophisticated the philosophies of an anti-Christ may seem, they are not true. They are riddled with contradictions, errors, and false assumptions. The gospel, on the other hand, is truth—truth that has stood the test of centuries, truth that can withstand rational examination, truth that is pragmatic and practical, truth that can be confirmed through personal experience. A believer need not apologize for his or her beliefs, for these beliefs withstand every scrutiny much more efficiently than do the doctrines of Satan.”

N. Gerald Lund Ensign, July 1992, p. 16

“We accept the feelings of the Spirit or we reject them, but we do not argue them. The Sadducees and Pharisees taunted Jesus for proof, yet when it was presented in overwhelming abundance they continued to disbelieve. Be assured that when such people seek proof, that proof is the last thing in the world that they really want. As to the Korihors, we need not assume the burden of proof that is rightly theirs. If they assert we are without a God, without prophets, and without revelation, it is for them to prove it. We await that proof as have the Saints of God from the days of Adam.”

Millet & McConkie, Sustaining and Defending the Faith, pp.92-3

KORIHOR DEMANDS A SIGN

➤ 30:42-43, What is the difference between being ‘carried about working devices of destruction’ and being ‘an instrument in the Hands of God’

➤ Why does Korihor ask for a sign? The Holy Ghost is no longer with him. He can’t ‘feel’ truth so he wants to ‘see’ it.

➤ He’s probably banking on the knowledge that God doesn’t generally show signs to unbelievers. Alma is a strong exception to that standard.

➤ 30:44, ‘Thou hast had signs enough’. I wonder if he was surprised at that.

➤ ATOT: Asking for some miraculous to happen at the temple. I had heard dramatic stories, I wanted them for myself so I could have a better testimony of the temple. I’m guessing Alma would tell me I have had signs enough!

➤ Where does Alma tell us to look? Leaders, prophets, scriptures, nature, the universe.

➤ How often do we discount small witnesses? We push aside promptings and ignore urgings to improve.

ALMA GIVES HIM ONE MORE CHANCE

➤ 30:47, Korihor is warned, similar to the warning from the angel to Alma (Alma 36:9)

➤ Korihor is struck dumb (possibly deaf too since the judge has to write things down as well)

➤ 30:51-53, He received his sign and testifies of truth

➤ He begs for healing

➤ 30:55-56, He wasn’t racked with guilt like Alma was. He just wanted out.

➤ He’s killed in the street

➤ 30:60, Mormon’s teaching to us to compare these two men and pay attention to their outcomes.

➤ Neal A. Maxwell quote (next slide)

“ The greatest cause of unhappiness and failure in this life is the trading what we want most for what we want at the moment.”

-Neal A. Maxwell

ALMA LEADS A MISSION TO RECLAIM THE APOSTATE ZORAMITES

➤ They take care of Korihor and get things back on track and then hear of troubles with the Zoramites

➤ ATOT: Motherhood is like playing whack-a-mole. Alma probably felt similar.

➤ Alma assembles a dream team to help the idol worshipping Zoramites.

➤ They were close to the Lamanites so they were worried about an alliance.

➤ 31:5, What’s his strategy?

➤ Boyd K. Packer: “True doctrine, understood, changes attitudes and behavior.”

➤ Do we actually buy it? What other sources do we turn to to change behavior? How can we use this principle better?

➤ Ezra T. Benson Quote (next slide)

“ Often we spend great effort in trying to increase the activity levels in our stakes. We work diligently to raise the percentages of those attending sacrament meetings. We labor to get a higher percentage of our young men on missions. We strive to improve the numbers of those marrying in the temple. All of these are commendable efforts and important to the growth of the kingdom. But when individual members and families immerse themselves in the scriptures regularly and consistently, these other areas of activity will automatically come. Testimonies will increase. Commitment will be strengthened.”

-Ezra Taft Benson

STRUGGLES OF THE APOSTATE ZORAMITES

➤ 31:1-2, The dream team goes to Antionum and are sickened by what they see (Rameumptom)

➤ This is the opposite of a hard hard. Leaders love, which makes them vulnerable to disappointment and sadness

➤ Zoramites had fallen into ‘great errors’

➤ 1. Idol worship (1)

➤ 2. Worshipping selectively (9,10,12,23)

➤ 3. Pride, Elitism (15,16,18,25)

➤ 4. Rejection of Christ (16,17)

➤ 5. Hearts set on riches (24,28)

ALMA TEACHES PRAYER

➤ 31:26-29 (summarize his prayer)

➤ We picture him yelling it for all to hear. I wonder if it was a quiet storm that drew people in.

➤ 31:30-31, what is Alma struggling with?

➤ He doesn’t ask for healing, he asks for strength

➤ 31:34-35, what is he teaching?

➤ The missionary’s are blessed with an extra measure of the Spirit and they split up

ALMA TEACHES OF THE JOY OF CHRIST

➤ 31:38, how are afflictions swallowed up in the joy of Christ?

➤ Neal A. Maxwell

➤ “Whether the afflictions are self-induced, as most of them are, or whether they are of the divine-tutorial type, it matters not. Either way, the Lord can help us so that our afflictions, said Alma, can be “swallowed up in the joy of Christ” (Alma 31:38). Thus, afflictions are endured and are overcome by joy. The sour notes are lost amid a symphony of salvational sounds. Our afflictions, brothers and sisters, may not be extinguished. Instead, they can be dwarfed and swallowed up in the joy of Christ. This is how we overcome most of the time – not the elimination of affliction, but the placing of these in that larger context.” (BYU Fireside, 2 Dec 1984)

➤ ATOT: Crossing the finish line of the marathon. All my pain and fear was swallowed up in the joy of accomplishing my goal.

➤ D&C 58:3-4

CONCLUSION

➤ Satan’s purposes are real.

➤ How can we know when what we are reading or hearing is true?

➤ We have no ‘counterfeit sharpie’ that we can use to test.

➤ Moroni gave us a better tool

➤ Moroni 7:16